


Sleep

by Onehelluvapilot



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: As it should be, Gen, Gen with literally two sentences of shipping, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Mostly Gen, Random & Short, Rare Pairings, Shippy Gen, Short One Shot, Sleep Deprivation, coincidentally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25928917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onehelluvapilot/pseuds/Onehelluvapilot
Summary: Lancelot and Leon both work themselves to exhaustion in the aftermath of an attempt on Arthur's life and fall into bed together.
Relationships: Lancelot & Leon (Merlin), Lancelot/Leon (Merlin)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	Sleep

After a nearly successful attack on the King’s life, Leon and Lancelot both worked themselves to exhaustion. The First Knight dedicated himself to searching out every weakness in the security of the castle. He took to wandering around at all hours, searching for any gap in the patrols or any unattended corridor. His counterpart did the opposite, as he refused to leave Arthur’s side. He personally guarded the royal chambers, sleeping, what little he must, in front of the door so that no one could open it without disturbing him. After over a week of them each spending every waking moment, which was about twenty two and a half hours a day, even Merlin told them it was getting excessive. Merlin, whose co-dependency with Arthur was legendary! Neither of them would listen to reason, however, probably due to the fact that their addled brains could no longer understand it. They were only convinced to go get some proper sleep after Arthur trounced both of them at the same time during training.

“If there were an attack right now, neither of you would be any use,” he announced, finally putting solidity to what the others had been telling them for days. “Go sleep. I don’t want to see either of you until at least tomorrow, or hear anything about you wandering about.”

Sufficiently shamed, the two men stumbled off to their quarters. Lancelot’s were farther, and at this point neither of them would be able to take off their chainmail alone, so he stayed in Leon’s. They undid the clasps on each other’s armor and just sort of tossed it on the ground. It would be a mess to sort out in the morning, or whenever they eventually hauled themselves out of bed, but they didn’t have the energy to think about that now. They fell into bed, neither bothering to take off any of their clothes or even their boots. Lancelot was stiff and Leon was sore but despite the pain of that and each other’s elbows digging into their sides, they were both asleep within minutes. 

* * *

Waking up was a little less easy. Merlin had been sent to bring them food, as no one could recall the last time either of them had anything to eat, and was confronted first by Lancelot’s empty quarters and then a minefield of sharp metal armor on the floor of Leon’s and two very disoriented and tired knights. Lancelot woke up into a panic because “if someone’s touching me while I’m sleeping it means they’re trying to past me to Arthur to hurt him” and nearly decked Merlin. Leon was a little calmer, but that didn’t mean that he didn’t immediately try to get out of bed to check the defenses of the castle for the hundredth time.

“No,” Merlin scolded, standing in front of the door so that neither of the knights could escape. “I promise you both, Arthur is perfectly safe. He was having a nice quiet dinner with Gwen the last I checked, with all of the food having been tasted and Percival guarding the door. Now, you two both need to eat something as well.”

Slightly reassured, both knights agreed to sit down and quietly devoured the meals Merlin had brought them. After they were fed, however, the battle of the wills commenced.

“Leon, you were expressly ordered not to go wandering the castle,” the servant objected when the knight began rummaging around for his armor.

“Like you always listen to orders,” Leon grumbled back. “And I’m not just wandering. I thought of a problem down in the sewers; someone could slip in that way.”

“Through the sewers? And when were you thinking of that anyway? You’ve only just woken up.”

“... I may have dreamed about it,” Leon admitted under his breath.

“You dreamed it? Leon, come on, you aren’t thinking clearly.”

“Or maybe you just don’t care about Arthur’s life!” the knight shouted back. Everyone in the room instantly froze; even Leon, upset and exhausted as he clearly still was, knew he had crossed a line.

“Leon,” Lancelot said, the hint of a growl in his tone. He may have stayed up for a week to protect Arthur, but that was nothing compared to the lengths he would go to for Merlin. He would, and had, fought other knights for far smaller insults against his friend.

“I’m sorry, Merlin,” the knight instantly apologized, dropping the armor he was holding and leaning back against the bed as all his energy seemed to melt out of him with the apology. “I didn’t mean that. I know you do your best to protect Arthur.”  
“So trust me to do so now, and go back to bed,” Merlin prodded. Lancelot helped, laying a hand on Leon’s shoulder and tugging him gently back towards the bed. He had also tried to leave and guard Arthur, but he knew better than Leon what protection Merlin can provide, and his friend had convinced him not to make his job any harder than it already was by passing out on his way to the Kings chambers.

Lancelot and Leon were now both sufficiently rested so as not to be desperate to fall into bed like last time. Lance could have returned to his own chambers. He didn’t. Instead, he shrugged off his gambeson before helping Leon out of his. Apparently satisfied that the two men weren’t going to try to escape, Merlin left with a smile and their empty plates. Though perhaps he was just guarding the outside of the door instead of the inside, to give them some privacy. They would not be able to blame their intimacy this time on sheer exhaustion or the aftermath of battle rush or the need for comfort after a traumatic experience, which seemed to happen far too often. Nevertheless, Leon pulled the blankets up over them and tucked Lancelot’s head beneath his chin. He huffed at the feeling of lips against his collarbone, but neither of them were in the mood for more than that. They didn’t need to sleep together. It was enough just to sleep together.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear what you think!


End file.
